http://fitrakisforcongress.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Capture.png281482Fitrakishttp://fitrakisforcongress.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/fitrakisprocedit_340-3-300x78-300x51.pngFitrakis2016-10-28 21:13:262016-10-28 21:13:26BLACK CENTRAL We must stop being political pawns

Ohio Green Party delegates Bob Fitrakis and Philena Farley at the Green Party national presidential nominating convention

More than a few have wondered why the Green Party headed for Houston in August to nominate Jill Stein for President. I heard a few press observers note that maybe it was because Houston is one of the hottest and most polluted cities in the nation – perhaps more in need of Stein’s proposed Green New Deal than any other major U.S. city.

The reality is that the national Greens chose Houston because the state Party there practices thoroughgoing grassroots democracy. Simply put, Houston’s state Green Party had the best proposal. The Ohio Greens had proposed Toledo and were a finalist, with a vision of the Cleveland fascistic Republican convention contrasted with adecentralized democratic meeting in the city that is, for all practical purposes, a suburb of Detroit.

Prior to the Saturday, August 6 nominating convention, there were no major questions outstanding. Stein was the presumptive nominee, had chosen her Vice President, and her platform was clear. This is despite the fact in the past few months, Stein had offered Bernie Sanders to be the Green Party presidential nominee (with Stein as VP), and offered former Ohio State Senator, Sanders supporter, and renegade Democrat Nina Turner a spot as her running mate.

There was also talk of Cornel West as a VP candidate. But in the end, Stein turned to a stalwart human rights activist with ties to the Black Lives Matter movement to balance the ticket and reach out to the Party’s growing minority base, Ajamu Baraka.

The two most fiery calls to action during Stein’s nomination process were from the always eloquent Cornel West and YahNe Ndgo. Ndgo, as if conjuring up the spirit of “criticism/self-criticism” from the 1970s, appealed far more to the primarily white 200 or so Green Party delegates than the numerous Bernie-or-Bust observers, who broke into frequent chants of “Jill! Not Hill!”

There was some tension in Stein’s nominating process when presidential hopeful Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry immediately objected to the Alabama delegation casting their votes, because she claimed she had not been invited to that state. Moyowasifza-Curry has argued vigorously for the Green Party becoming a minority-led vehicle to advance issues of concern to people of color.

Although there were frequent procedural objections from the floor by Moyowasifza-Curry, Stein easily won the nomination. The platform that, among other things, calls for reparations for African Americans, passed with little debate and only one dissenting vote.

The Ecological Economics amendment placed the Green Party firmly on the record as a Left eco-socialist party, reading in part: “…The Green Party seeks to build an alternative economic system based on ecology and decentralization of power, an alternative that rejects both the capitalist system that maintains private ownership over almost all production as well as the state-socialist system that assumes control over industries without democratic, local decision making…” and “…“addresses the economic inequalities, social inequalities, and productivism of both capitalism and state socialism and emphasizes grassroots democracy in the workplace.”

The platform also included the Green Party’s commitment to election integrity, calling for the end to all privately-owned proprietary computer codes in the U.S. electronic voting process.

A highlight of the convention was a livestream by Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy in Britain. He spoke to the crowd about movements like the Green Party and how they keep American politics “honest.” He repeated his assertion that asking people to vote between Trump and Clinton is like asking people to choose between “cholera and gonorrhea.” Both Assange and West argued that the legendary “triangulation” of the Clintons, while they govern from the corporate center, is fanning the flames of right-wing takeovers to hold the Left at bay.

Stein asserted that all the fears of a Trump presidency – naked oligarchies, endless wars – actually occurred during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. Stein also pointed out, along with West, that the current U.S. mass incarceration state that has disproportionately arrested blacks and Latinos was fueled on the federal level by the policies of Bill Clinton.

The key unanswered question from the convention is how many of the Berners will bolt from the preference of their leader and dedicate their energy and enthusiasm to the Stein campaign. Reports are already coming in of record small donations to the Stein campaign. In a press conference following her nomination, Stein said she had raised more money in the last three weeks than in the first year and half of her campaign.

Will the long sought-after, post-60s dream of an eco-socialist alliance, with state and local elected officials finally breakthrough in 2016?

Bob Fitrakis, Co-Chair of the Ohio Green Party, was an alternative delegate to the 2016 national Green Party convention and is the Federal Election Commissioner of the Green Shadow Cabinet.

He promises to prosecute polluters, rogue cops, and corporate criminals.

What I hope to accomplish as Franklin County Prosecutor?
* Prosecute any police using excessive force
* Prosecute polluters poisoning the people, soil, water, or air
* Prosecute individuals involved in scandals, such as Redflex and data-rigging within Columbus City Schools
* Set up a whistleblower’s hotline
* Prosecute anyone involved in vote tampering or voter suppression, including elected officials
* Make Franklin County a Bill of Rights Enforcement Zone
* Arrest any individuals or government officials illegally spying on the people of Franklin County
* Guarantee due process and equal protection for all people, especially immigrants, minorities, and the poor who are targeted unfairly by the police
* Advocate for decriminalization and legalization of marijuana and hemp
* Provide treatment and diversion programs rather than jail sentences for drug addicts and abusers
* Go after the real drug dealers with ties to the CIA who bring drugs in by the planeload – wealthy, well-connected cartels

Bob Fitrakis Biography
Bob Fitrakis is currently the co-chair of the Ohio Green Party and the Franklin County Green Party. He ran as the Green Party Lt. Governor with Anita Rios in 2014 when the Green Party received over 100,000 votes in Ohio. He was also a candidate in the 3rd congressional district in 2012 and as the Green Party endorsed candidate for governor of Ohio in 2006. He has been a member of the Green Shadow Cabinet as the Federal Elections Commissioner since 2013 after he worked with Jill Stein, the 2012 presidential candidate.
Fitrakis is a Political Science Professor in the Social Sciences department at Columbus State Community College, where he won the Distinguished Professor Award in 2012. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Wayne State University and a J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He was a Ford Foundation Fellow to the Michigan State legislature and currently serves as a Near East Area Commissioner. He co-authored “What Happened in Ohio: A documentary record of theft and fraud in the 2004 election” (New Press, 2006), and has authored or co-authored 12 other books including six on election integrity. Fitrakis is the editor of the Free Press, freepress.org and columbusfreepress.com.
Fitrakis was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 2003. In his first major case, he sued Ohio State University for violating students’ civil rights who were organizing the annual Hemp Festival, and won. He represented anti-fracking activist madeline ffitch, arrested for civil disobedience at a fracking well in southeastern Ohio. He also had charges dismissed against Kevin Egler in Kent, Ohio for posting an “Impeach Bush” sign on public property. He was served as the attorney for the Columbus NAACP, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, the Ohio Green Party, the Ohio Rights Group, Columbus Film Festival, The Neighborhood Network, Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism, among others.
Fitrakis has been an election protection activist since March 1994, when he served as an international observer for the national elections in El Salvador. He co-wrote and edited the El Salvador election report for the United Nations. Fitrakis was an election protection attorney on November 2, 2004 in Franklin County. After witnessing election suppression, he called the first public hearings on voter suppression and election irregularities and was one of four attorneys to file a challenge to Ohio’s presidential elections results: Moss v. Bush and Moss v. Moyer. In 2006, Fitrakis was co-counsel in the King-Lincoln-Bronzeville lawsuit against the Ohio Secretary of State’s office seeking to end racially discriminatory electoral practices in Ohio and to ensure free and fair elections. He authored a 50-point consent decree to ensure election integrity in Ohio submitted to the current Secretary of State. Many of these proposals have been adopted by the state of Ohio.
In December 2004, Fitrakis testified before the Judiciary Committee of Congress at the request of Rep. John Conyers in both Washington D.C. and Columbus. The information gathered from the Fitrakis’ investigations and hearings resulted in the Conyers Report, “What Went Wrong in Ohio?” released January 5, 2005. Fitrakis spoke to the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on Ohio’s election issues. Fitrakis briefed John Kerry, worked on election reform with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-LA), and briefed the Democratic Party Senate leadership. He later briefed the Congressional Progressive Caucus as well as the Congressional Black Caucus and the Senate Democratic leadership. Dr. Fitrakis testified at the Election Assessment hearings in Houston, Texas in 2005, which became part of the Carter-Baker Commission Report on federal election reform.

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Journey to Planet Earth Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization
Thursday, August 15 – 7pm
Northwood-High building, 2231 N. High Street, Room 100, parking in rear.
This film provides audiences with hopeful solutions — a road map that will help eradicate poverty, stabilize population, stabilize climate, and protect and restore the earth’s forests, soils and fisheries. It includes ways of protecting and restoring soils, forests, rangelands, and oceanic fisheries, plus conserving the earth’s biological diversity. It also features case studies that clearly show signs of a new energy economy emerging.

Hosted by Matt Damon, which features Lester Brown, environmental visionary and author of “Plan B” this documentary delivers a clear and unflinching message – either confront the realities of climate change or suffer the consequences of lost civilizations and failed political states.
Brown, together with other notable scholars and scientists, including Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, former Governor and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, provides a glimpse into a new and emerging economy based upon renewable resources as well as strategies to avoid the growing threat of global warming.
This is the third in a 3-part movie series by the Franklin County Green Party and Environment Ohio. fcgreenparty@gmail.com

Franklin County Green Party October 31, 2012 MEDIA ADVISORY Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Vows to Recount Ohio if there are any signs of election tampering — POLITICS OF COURAGE TOUR VISITS COLUMBUS NOV. 2 — Event/FMI Contact: Bob Fitrakis [614] 374-2380 or [614] 253-2571 or fcgreenparty@gmail.com (Columbus Ohio) The Green Party’s Politics of Courage Tour comes to Columbus this Friday, November 2, 2012 with Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein holding a 1:00 pm press conference in front of the Ohio Statehouse McKinley statute on North High Street. Stein is coming to Columbus to address recently discovered evidence regarding the Romney family ties the Hart InterCivic voting machine company. Stein is concerned with the ownership and programming control of Hart InterCivic voting machines being used in Hamilton and Williams counties in Ohio. Stein believes that the Romney connection is a critical conflict of interest and raises the question of whether partisan private for-profit corporations should be secretly counting the votes of U.S. citizens. Hart InterCivic voting machines failed on all 12 key areas of security during Ohio’s Everest study by former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Stein vows to recount Ohio if there are any signs of election tampering on Election Day. She further calls for Hamilton and Williams counties to use hand-counted paper ballots. Stein will be available for interviews at her press conference between 1-2:00 pm on Friday at the Statehouse. She will be in town until 3pm Saturday for additional interviews to discuss the voting machine issues, the Stein/Honkala Campaign, the Green Party position on issues addressed in the Presidential debates, her arrest outside the Hofstra Debate, and The New Green Deal, the economic centerpiece of the Green Party’s platform for building a sustainable job-creating economic future for America. Jill Stein biography Jill Stein was born in Chicago and raised in suburban Highland Park, Illinois. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1973 and from Harvard Medical School in 1979. Dr. Stein is a mother, physician, longtime teacher of internal medicine, and pioneering environmental-health advocate. Stein enjoys writing, performing music, and walks with her Great Dane, Bandita. She lives in Lexington, Massachusetts with her husband, Richard Rohrer, also a physician. She has two sons, Ben and Noah, both college graduates. In 2002 ADD activists in the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party approached Dr. Stein and asked her to run for Governor of Massachusetts. Dr. Stein accepted, and began her first foray into electoral politics. She was widely credited with being the best informed and most credible candidate in the race. She has twice been elected to town meeting in Lexington, Massachusetts. In 2003, Jill co-founded the Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities, a non-profit organization that addresses a variety of issues that are important to the health and well-being of Massachusetts communities, including health care, local green economies, and grassroots democracy. In 2008, Stein helped formulate a “Secure Green Future” ballot initiative that called upon legislators to accelerate efforts to move the Massachusetts economy to renewable energy and make development of green jobs a priority. The measure won over 81 per cent of the vote in the 11 districts in which it was on the ballot. Stein’s Vice-President Candidate, Cheri Honkala, is a nationally recognized anti-poverty activist. She is the co-founder of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union as well as a co-founder and current National Coordinator for the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, one of our nation’s largest multi-racial, intergenerational movements led by the poor and homeless. Voter support for the Green Party’s Stein/Honkala ticket is at 2% in Ohio and nationally, with the Green Party appearing on enough state election ballots to win the election and garnering sufficient financial support from individual citizens [the GP prohibits PAC contributions] to qualify for federal matching funds for the first time. [CNN Poll] For more information on the GP Presidential Candidate Jill Stein and VP Candidate Cheri Honkala visit www.jillstein.org.

http://fitrakisforcongress.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/fitrakisprocedit_340-3-300x78-300x51.png00Fitrakishttp://fitrakisforcongress.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/fitrakisprocedit_340-3-300x78-300x51.pngFitrakis2012-10-31 07:30:572012-10-31 07:39:43Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Vows to Recount Ohio if there are any signs of election tampering

Election Protection Observers
The Free Press (Freepress.org) in conjunction with the Green Party will be placing observers for the 2012 election. We need volunteers. All observers must be eligible voters in Ohio.
If you are new to this, you may not know that we can appoint one observer at the county level. County level observers can observe in a different county from their county of residence. County level observers can observe at any precinct throughout the day, and also can observe the vote counting* process in the evening of election day (approximately 7:30 to midnight) Our goal is to place one county level observer in 44 of the 88 Ohio counties, and have that county level observer spend the evening at the county BOE.

Come see us at the Hamilton County Board of Elections tomorrow – Friday, Nov. 2 from 4:30-6pm. We’re having a press conference about the voting machine problem. Also, we’re having dinner at Venice on Vine 1301 Vine afterwards from 6-8pm. Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate will be there.

SPECIAL DEEP DISCOUNT for FREE PRESS members and anyone on your list-serve. Just mention FREE PRESS at the Drexel Box-Office when coming to see BAG-IT, and be admitted for only $6 … that’s $3.00 off general admission (reg. $9) and $1.50 off Matinee Admission (reg. $7.50) to see the film.
Showing Wednesday, October 3, Sunday, October 7, and Tuesday, October 9.
An Award-winning and extremely funny environmental film about the effects of the millions of plastic bags we use in America and how it effects our waterways, oceans, landscape and even our own bodies. Presented by the Drexel Theatre and the Franklin Park Conservatory.
Drexel Theater, 2254 E. Main St., Bexley

Oct. 6 – Pride of the Southside Festival – Green Party voter registration, 10am-4pm, Lincoln Park, Barack Recreation Center, behind it, in Lincoln Park, 580 Woodrow Avenue, 43207
Get involved in Election Protection this year!
We need volunteers for a number of different duties between now and Election Day. Work from home, or observe at the polls, or work from central headquarters on Election Day. Everyone’s skills are needed from computer work, video, legal services, to just answering the phone.
Ohio Election Protection meeting: Tuesday, Sept. 11, 6:30pm, Bob Fitrakis’ home, 1021 E. Broad St., Columbus. 253-2571, truth@freepress.org.

Events for Saturday October 13 with Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Cheri Honkala
Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Cheri Honkala will visit Columbus on Saturday October 13, 2012. Honkala is running with the Green’s presidential candidate, Jill Stein.
11am-12noon – Bob Fitrakis will interview Cheri on WVKO1580AM radio show “Fight Back!” wvko1580.com, call-in 614-821-1580
4-6pm – Meet and speak to Cheri Honkala at a fundraiser reception for the Jill Stein/Cheri Honkala Green Party presidential campaign, at 1021 E. Broad Street. Suggested donation: $25.00
6:30pm-midnight – Cheri will be joining Dream Act activists at the Second Saturday Salon 6:30pm-midnight, also at 1021 E. Broad Street. There will also be a presentation by Anti-Racist Action and a celebration of the first anniversary of the Occupy movement in Columbus.
For more info: 614-374-2380
fcgreenparty@gmail.com
http://www.jillstein.org/cheri_honkala